Under the influence? The construction of Foetal Alcohol

Syndrome in the UK

Pam LoweEllie Lee

Outline

FASD migration?

Risky drinking?

Unrespectable women?

FASD migration?

FAS identified in alcoholic women in the US

Democratised to include all women

Expanded to a range of conditionsFASD

UK Developments

‘Arrived’ in the UK since 2000Prior to this very little attention

Linked to the development of UK claimsmakers

Initial reception muted –little widespread support

UK Developments

coverage over time

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

years

no

of

arti

cles

The Times

Daily Mail

Guardian

Independent

Mirror

Sun

Express

Daily Telegraph

Daily Star

Government responses

Advice has changed to promote abstinence

Yet there is no evidence that this is necessary

Message not universally accepted

Risky Drinking?

Consumption of alcohol now considered a social problem

Linked to anti-social behaviour

Young women in particular are focused on as problematic binge drinkers

Risky Drinking?

Associated with negative discourses of teenage pregnancy

Anti-social families

(Young) binge-drinking women become identified as a risk to potential foetus.

‘Good motherhood’

Increasing attention on pregnancy and conceptionthrough engagement with the public foetus

Individualisation encourages new public heath solutions

‘Risk’ is not a consideration but a negative to be avoided

‘Good mothering’?

Women are ‘warned’ of the ‘risk

‘Good motherhood’ becomes defined by compliance

Yet not accepted uncriticallyDo ‘good mothers’ really need reminding?

Parenting cultures

Overlapping discourses correlate around consumption of alcohol in pregnancy

Anti-social behaviourTeenage pregnancy

Fit with the emergence of a ‘public foetus’

Summary

FASD has emerged as social problem at a particular cultural time

Binge drinkingPublic Foetus/child at riskIncompatibility of risk with good motherhood

Changes in advice unrelated to scientific evidenceHas implications for the policing of all women’s behaviour